Smoking device



Sept. 6, 1966 RQTUCKER 3,270,751

SMOKING DEVICE Filed March 16, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. RICHARD C. TUCKER ATTORNEY S p 1966 R. c. TUCKER 3,270,751

I SMOKING DEVICE Filed March 16, 1964 2 SheetsSheet 2 Fig.4

INVENTOR. RICHARD C. TUCKER ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,270,751 SMOKING DEVICE Richard C. Tucker, Newtown, Conn., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Delcron Products, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 16, 1964, Ser. No. 352,285 Claims. (Cl. 131-198) This invention relates in general to a device for smoking, and more specifically it relates to a device arranged to provide various predetermined mixtures of smoke and air.

In these days, when medical statistics appear to be showing an unfavorable relationship between heavy smoking and early death, considerable attention is being given to the actual quantity of smoke intake and any resulting physiological damage. In any event, the statistics clearly indicate that the incidence of early death is greater with a heavy smoker than it is with a light smoker.

Accordingly, it is an object 'of the present invention to provide a means whereby smoke may be diluted so that a predetermined ratio of air to smoke may be selected and subsequently delivered to the smoker and thus provide a means for reducing the concentration of the smoke inhaled.

Moreover, it is a further object of the invention to provide a device which is compact, durable and easily operated.

Accordingly, the invention provides a smoking device arranged to be inserted between a source of smoke and a smoker in which there is an end piece body forming on one end a smoke chamber which is adapted to receive smoke from the source and on the other end has a recess bounded by a peripheral wall. There is a front piece having on one side end a smoke withdrawal chamber from which a smoker may withdraw the smoke products and on the other end a plug which fits into the recess on the end piece. Within the end piece there is a smoke passage communicating with the smoke chamber and a separate air passage formed as an enlarged blind hole which reduces the thickness of said peripheral wall at the hole to provide direct communication from the blind hole to the surrounding air. A plurality of pairs of orifices are arranged in the plug with each pair disposed to be alignable with the two passages. Means are provided for relatively moving the :plug to align any one of the pairs of orifices with the two passages to meter a predetermined ratio of air to smoke to said passages from said withdrawal chamber.

The invention also provides in connection with the device that the pairs of orifices be arranged so that each pair .provides a different ratio of air to smoke.

Additionally, the device may be provided with an indexing means to allow correct selection and alignment of the desired orifice in each pair with the air and smoke passages.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed outwith particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification, but for a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects obtained by its use, reference should be had to the detailed explanations of the preferred embodiments of the invention along with the illustrations in the accompanying drawings. The drawings are intended as mere illustrations of the invention and the dimensions therein may not be truly representative of many of the critical features. Thus, the language of the following specification should control on such critical features.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a small scale perspective view of a cig- 3,270,751 Patented Sept. 6, 1966 arette holder embodying the present invention as it may be arranged in use;

FIGURE 2 is a portion of a cigarette holder embodying the present invention greatly enlarged in scale in an exploded partially sectioned perspective view;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical elevation taken along lines 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a partial vertical section taken along lines 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a partial vertical section taken along lines '55 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is a vertical elevation taken along lines 66 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 7 is a partial vertical section taken along lines 7-7 of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a partial vertical section taken along lines 88 of FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view of a washer that may be used in the present invention;

FIGURE 10 is a partial vertical section of the device of FIGURE 2 assembled in one of its modes of opera- 'tion;

FIGURE 11 is another partial vertical elevation of the assembly of FIGURE 2 shown in an alternate mode of operation; and

FIGURE 12 is a small scale partially sectioned perspective view of an alternate form of the invention.

The invention may be illustrated by a cigarette holder 10, comprising'a front or mouthpiece 12 and an end piece 14, both of a generally tubular nature, which are held together on a common longitudinal axis in a manner to be described hereafter. A typical cigarette 16 is arranged to have one end snugly held within the tubular portion of the end piece '14. Accordingly, in operation the lighted cigarette 16 would provide a source of smoke to an interior smoke chamber 18 within the end piece 14. Preferably, the cigarette :16 would be of a filter type which entraps many of the smoke particles with-in the filter and furnishes clean smoke to chamber 18.

The end piece 14 is arranged with a vertical transverse wall 20 which divides the end piece into the smoke chamber 18 and cylindrical recessed portion 22 on the opposite end. The end piece wall 20 is provided with a cylindrical smoke passage 24 directly communicating the source of smoke via the smoke chamber 18 with the recessed portion 22. On the longitudinal axis of the wall 20 and projecting int-o the smoke chamber 18, there is a boss 26, that is drilled to provide a threaded 'hole 28.

The mouth or front piece 12 being of a generally tulbular nature has on one end 12A a withdrawal chamber 29 directly open to and adapted to be held on the mouth of the smoker for direct communication therewith. At the opposite end of the mouthpiece there is an orifice plug 30 which is of a smaller diameter than the exterior of the mouthpiece 12 and projects away from the mouthpiece so as to provide a neck 32 which is intended to be closely and rotatably held in the recess 22 of the end piece 12, when in operable position.

The mouthpiece 12 is elastically and rotatably held with the neck 32 sookcted in the recess 22 by a threaded bolt 34 on which there is disposed a spring 36 which is compressed between the head of the bolt and a washer 38 with the threaded end of the bolt 34 secured in the threaded hole 28 of the end piece 14 (see FIGS. 2, 10 and 11). Accordingly, the resilient pressure of the spring 36 forces the mouthpiece 12 towards the end piece and pulls the end piece towards the mouthpiece while allowing the mouthpiece and end piece to be rotated relatively to each other.

The transverse Wall 20 of the end piece 14 has been drilled from the side of the recess 22, a partial distance with an enlarged drill so that a portion of the tubular wall 14A forming the recess 22 is removed in the manner shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. This drilled hole 40 is blind and is a part of an air passage which allows air to be drawn from the surrounding air in through the crack between the neck 32 and the tubular portion 14A of the end piece 14 which forms the recess 22. The air flow path thus formed is shown by the arrows in FIG. 11.

The blind drilled hole 40 and the smoke passage 24 are equidistant from the longitudinal centerline of the tubular end piece and lie diametrically opposite each other as indicated in FIGURES 2 and 3.

The orifice plug 30 is drilled along the longitudinal centerline to allow the bolt 34 to snugly pass therethrough as previously described. There are a plurality of pairs of orifices each pair having holes which are diametrically opposite each other equidistant from the longitudinal centerli-ne of the mouthpiece 12 and as illustrated, there are three pairs of orifices each having angular spacing of 60 from each other. Each orifice has a specific flow area relative to the other orifice in its pair to provide a predetermined ratio of flow areas for each pair of orifices and thus a predetermined ratio of air to smoke flowing through each pair. The pairs of orifices are disposed in the plug '30 a distance from the longitudinal axis equal to the distance that the passages 24 and 40 lie from the same centerline so that each pair of orifices is alignable with the two passages. As depicted in this embodiment there are three pairs of orifices; one pair providing 80% flow in one hole and 20% flow in its opposite corresponding orifice. Another pair has a 60/40% ratio while the remaining pair has a 100% ratio. It can therefore be seen that although the 0% hole as shown in FIGURE 6 is not in reality a through passage but merely a blind hole (see FIGS. 7 and when it is aligned with the hole 40, the smoke hole 24 is aligned with the 100% fiow area hole of the orifice plate and the ratio of air to smoke is infinite. The 0% blind hole is coupled with the 100% flow area hole and for the purposes of the disclosure is to be considered to be one pair of orifices in the plate 30'.

In order to properly align the position of the various pairs of orifice with the smoke passage 24 and the drill hole 40, the face of the transverse wall 20 is provided with a pair of diametrical opposite protrusions or dimples 50 which are angularly offset from the smoke hole by 60 degrees. As can be see-n with reference to FIGURE 6, each of the pairs or orifices are located at multiples of 60 degrees angular displacement. Accordingly, the dimpics 50 will protrude slightly into each of a pair of the various holes and due to the spring pressure of the spring 36 will provide an aligning and indexing means, however,

upon a torque being placed on either the mouthpiece 12 or the end piece 14, the spring 36 will be slightly compressed as the dimples 50 move out of the orifice hole and areuately travel to the next position. To easily accommodate the dimples 50, each of the entrances of the orifices have been countersunk in the face of the member 30.

In the alternate construction of FIGURE 12, an extension mouthpiece 52 is fitted to the front piece 12 of the smoking device 10. The extension 52 is elongated with a passage 53 therethrough so as to convert the device 10 into a cigarette holder of the usual size. Accordingly, the mouthheld end 52A has a bit 54 thereon and is flattened to be easily held between the rows of teeth of a smoker.

The extension, as shown, is constructed with a joining piece 516 having a projection 56A and a shoulder 56B on its other end. The projection is dimensioned to be a hand removable force fit in the withdrawal chamber 29 so that the shoulder 56B abuts the end 12A of the mouthpiece as shown in FIG. 12. The joining piece is preferably of a light Weight metal while the extension 52 may be a plastic which is molded onto the groove end portion 56C.

Thus, when the extension mouthpiece '5-2 is fitted to the front piece 12, it becomes an integral part thereof and it directly communicates the smoker with the withdrawal chamber 29. Thus, the combined extension mouthpiece and front piece rotate together to allow various pairs of orifices to be used as desired.

The operation of the invention is as follows:

When the filter type cigarette is placed with its filter end in the end piece 14 and the mouthpiece portion 12A is placed in the srnoke-rs mouth, the device 10 is then in operative position. For the device illustrated, FIGURE 10 shows the mouthpiece in a position relative to the end piece 12 where the 100% orifice is aligned with the smoke hole 24 and there is a direct communication from the smoke chamber 18 through the passage 24 and the 100% orifice hole to the withdrawing chamber 29 of the mouthpiece 12. Accordingly, should the smoker exert a negative pressure, smoke would be withdrawn through the cigarette and the device into the mouth. This position would probably be used when lighting the cigarette and represents a predetermined infinite ratio of air to smoke.

FIGURE 1 illustrates the exterior of the device which may have stamped thereon certain indicia that may be associated with a corresponding index line to thus be a further portion of the means to select and align the pairs of orifices to provide the desired predetermined ratio of air to smoke. As a typical example, for the device illustrated there may be marked on the end piece indicia and lines which correspond to the size of the various flow areas while the mouthpiece may only have an index line. Thus, as the dimples 50 protrude into the various countersunk portions of the orifice-s a certain orifice will be aligned with the smoke hole and the blind hole 40. A twist of the mouthpiece 12 will allow the pairs of orifices to rotate about their common axis and each pair will become aligned progressively with the smoke and air passages to yield a variety of predetermined air to smoke ratios. Accordingly, for the device illustrated one could set smoke percentages of O, 20, 40, 60, and Thus one could have an 80/20 ratio air to smoke or smoke to air depending upon which percentage hole was aligned with the smoke hole.

Accordingly, with the apparatus of the present invention a smoker may select and accurately align pairs of orifices so as to provide to the smoker for each in halation a predetermined ratio of air to smoke. For the purposes of this statement one must include those two positions Where one would either obtain 100% air or 100% smoke. It therefore follows that it is Within the control of. the smoker as to how much smoke may be available to him. Moreover, he can assure that the quantity of the smoke he does take in will be pre-filtered simply by using a filter cigarette in the device in the present in vention.

Although the specific illustration shows the invention applied to a cigarette holder it may be effectively utilized in other smoking devices such as a pipe or cigar holder to provide metered and predetermined ratios of air to smoke.

The materials of construction may be metal or plastic, machined or molded and/or combinations thereof as condition may Warrant.

While in accordance with the provisions of the statutes there has been illustrated and described herein specific forms of the invention now known, those skilled in the art will understand that changes may be made in the form of the product disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention covered by the claims and that certain features of the invention may some times be used to advantage without a corresponding use of other features.

What is claimed is:

1. A smoking device arranged to be inserted between a source of smoke and a smoker, an end piece body forming on one end a smoke chamber which is adapted to receive smoke from said source and on the other end a peripheral wall forming a recess, a front piece having on one end a smoke withdrawal chamber from which a smoker may withdraw the smoke products and on the other end thereof a plug fitting into said recess of said end piece, said end piece having a smoke passage communicating with said smoke [chamber and an air passa-ge formed as an enlarged blind hole which reduces the thickness of said peripheral wall at said hole to provide direct communication from said blind hole to the surrounding air, said plug arranged with a plurality of pairs of orifices, each pair of which is disposed to be alignable with said two passages, and means for relatively moving said plug to align any one of said pairs with said two passages to meter a predetermined ratio of air to smoke from said passages to said withdrawal chamber.

2. A smoking device according to claim 1 wherein said two passages are arranged diametrically opposite each other and equidistant from a common longitudinal axis, said pairs of orifices arranged in said plug with each pair halving holes disposed diametrically opposite each other and equidistant from said longitudinal axis with said orifice pairs being 'alignable with said passages, and said plug moving means being adapted to allow for relative rotation of said front piece and end piece about said common longitudinal axis so that any one of said pairs of orifices may be aligned as desired with said two passages.

3. A smoking device according to claim 2 in which the plug moving means includes a longitudinally extending bolt secured at one end in one of the pieces and hav- 6 ing a spring on the other end of the bolt which is compressed between the head of the bolt and the other piece so as to provide resilient pressure tending to force the mouthpiece towards the end piece.

4. In a smoking device according to claim 1 means indexing said pairs of orifices to provide correct alignment and selection of said pairs or" orifices with said passages to provide the desired air to smoke ratio.

5. In a smoking device according to claim 1 in which there is a mouthpiece extension having one end shaped to be held between the teeth of the smoker and the other end formed to be removabiy force fitted into said front piece and thereby to directly communicate said withdrawal chamber to said smoker.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,621,876 3/1927 Doerr 138-46 2,215,585 9/1940 Huenlich 13-846 X 2,827,905 3/ 1958 Geoifrion 131--170 X 2,948,296 8/ 1960 T homblurn 251207 X 2,967,528 1/1961 Kelter 131198 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,117,343 11/1961 Germany.

776,316 6/ 1957 Great Britain.

SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

JOSEPH S. REI CH, Examiner. 

1. A SMOKING DEVICE ARRANGED TO BE INSERTED BETWEEN A SOURCE OF SMOKE AND A SMOKER, AN END PIECE BODY FORMING ON ONE END A SMOKE CHAMBER WHICH IS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE SMOKE FROM SAID SOURCE AND ON THE OTHER END A PERIPHERAL WALL FORMING A RECESS, A FRONT PIECE HAVING ON ONE END A SMOKE WITHDRAWAL CHAMBER FROM WHICH A SMOKER MAY WITHDRAW THE SMOKE PRODUCTS AND ON THE OTHER END THEREOF A PLUG FITTING INTO SAID RECESS OF SAID END PIECE, SAID END PIECE HAVING A SMOKE PASSAGE COMMUNICATING WITH SAID SMOKE CHAMBER AND AN AIR PASSAGE FORMED AS AN ENLARGED BLIND HOLE WHICH REDUCES THE THICKNESS OF SAID PERIPHERAL WALL AT SAID HOLE TO PROVIDE DIRECT COMMUNICATION FROM SAID BLIND HOLE TO THE SURROUNDING AIR, SAID PLUG ARRANGED WITH A PLURALITY OF PAIRS OF ORIFICES, EACH PAIR OF WHICH IS DISPOSED TO BE ALIGNABLE WITH SAID TWO PASSAGES, AND MEANS FOR RELATIVELY MOVING SAID PLUG TO ALIGN ANY ONE OF SAID PAIRS WITH SAID TWO PASSAGES TO METER A PREDETERMINED RATIO OF AIR TO SMOKE FROM SAID PASSAGES TO SAID WITHDRAWAL CHAMBER. 